The Controversy of Beyonce

The Presidential Inauguration has been over a week ago, however the controversy regarding Beyonce lip-syncing the National Anthem continues. It will die down eventually, but for now, it remains a hot topic. I’m not a fan of Beyonce, nor do I despise her. She’s just another entertainer to me. I’ve never seen her as being the greatest singer or female performer of all-time. Many of her fans are overprotective, and even vicious where this is concerned. They’ll defend her to the hilt, while often becoming rude and insulting. I don’t think a “greatest singer” exists. We have our favorites and preferences, and to us, they are the best.

Beyonce has talent. I’ve seen her in concert twice, once with Destiny’s Child, the other after she had gone solo. I was not disappointed. I think she does her best work live- when she’s not lip-syncing. By doing so, she cheapens herself as a performer. If she had any doubts about performing at the Inauguration, she should have declined. Instead, she chose to pull our her earpiece and throw her head around like she was really belting out the song. While she and her camp have remained silent, her defenders have said it was “too cold”. Interestingly, it wasn’t too cold for James Taylor or Kelly Clarkson. Yet she’s the “bigger” artist.

Beyonce has been shrouded in controversy and criticism for quite some time. She has been criticized for the L’oreal ad where she embraced her multi-racial heritage. Many claim her hair is a weave. Word has it she was never pregnant, but secretly used a surrogate. She has been attacked for choosing to be a blonde, for walking away from Destiny’s Child too soon. Being a celeb is never easy, especially in the day of Twitter and Facebook. The more the fame, the more the scrutinity. The Inauguration controversy has only added fuel to the fire. This could have been avoided, but she obviously had too much pride to turn down being in the spotlight at an event of this scale.

Hopefully, she’ll give the lip-syncing a rest and sing when the time and occasion asks for it.